The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Ridgecrest, CA
Ridgecrest is a city of 31,300 in Kern County, about 80 miles east of downtown Bakersfield · Updated November 2026
Is Ridgecrest, CA safe?
Yes, crime in Ridgecrest is low, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of A-. Because most US neighborhoods are safe as well, Ridgecrest sits near the middle: safer than the neighborhoods where 41% of Americans live. Property crime grades better than violent crime here, A against B+. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Ridgecrest run from A+ to C+, so check the map below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 787 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
41% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Ridgecrest as a whole, and 59% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Ridgecrest scores 787.
Crime is concentrated in a small share of places, so most neighborhoods score high on the 0 to 1,000 scale. That is why a score in the 800s can still mean more crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its crime with the people, homes and cars there, on one national scale, from green for the least crime to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy shopping center can show red while the homes beside it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a strong connection. Compare high speed internet in Ridgecrest, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Ridgecrest, and anyone thinking about buying or renting a home there.
Business and enterprise customers: this free map shows neighborhood areas. CrimeGrade™ business reports map crime at about 66-meter detail and estimate it for one address and type of business. See business reports
What stands out in Ridgecrest
Robberies run high for an A-graded city. Ridgecrest has 0.72 robberies a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of an A-graded US city, the figure is 0.13.
Aggravated assaults run high. Ridgecrest has aggravated assaults at about double the US rate: 5.5 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.6 nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Ridgecrest
Most of Ridgecrest grades well: 96% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across Ridgecrest run from A+ to C+; 10% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
96%
A or B 96%C 4%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Ridgecrest, the southeast side has the least crime and the center the most.
Is crime going up in Ridgecrest?
Since 2019, reported violent crime in Ridgecrest is up 37% and property crime is down 23%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 4.9 to 6.7 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 14 to 11 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime rose 22%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
RidgecrestUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Ridgecrest. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Ridgecrest
Violent, US
Property, Ridgecrest
Property, US
2016
+6%
+4%
+43%
+15%
2017
+10%
+4%
+30%
+12%
2018
+21%
+0%
+25%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+16%
+4%
-17%
-8%
2021
+35%
+6%
-9%
-10%
2022
+17%
+5%
+1%
-6%
2023
+12%
+2%
-28%
-7%
2024
+37%
-4%
-23%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Ridgecrest
CrimeGrade™ estimates Ridgecrest has about 37 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, about the same as the US as a whole and close to California.
Overall crime
Violent crime
Property crime
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. These figures include simple assaults and vandalism, which the FBI's violent and property crime rates leave out.
The largest share of crime reported in Ridgecrest is assault, about 47% of the total. It also makes up the largest share of what crime costs here.
Each CrimeGrade™ compares a crime with what it affects: people for assaults and robbery, homes for burglary, parked cars for vehicle theft. Rates count crimes per 1,000 residents.
Select a crime's name to see its map above. CrimeGrade™ business reports map each crime at about 66-meter detail.
Where and when crime happens in Ridgecrest
Ridgecrest has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Ridgecrest, 63% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 30% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (63%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Car theft
Homes (39%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (30%)
Night (midnight to 6 am)
Vandalism
Homes (42%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Streets and sidewalks (28%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (51%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times; they are over one in five for burglary.
How Ridgecrest compares with nearby cities
Ridgecrest has the most crime of its 3 nearest cities.
Two things set Ridgecrest apart: it has 24 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole, and 5% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally. Places like that tend to report less theft and robbery, and theft runs low here.
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.24 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 80% of US city residents
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.5% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 73% of US city residents
Walk GradeBestNeighborhood's grade for getting through daily life on foot, traced along real walking routes to shops, schools and parks. Walkable places tend to report more theft and assault. 84% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (16 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 56% of US city residents
Show all 6
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.2.3 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 69% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.8.4 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 69% of US city residents
Lit at nightSatellite images show which neighborhoods are lit at night, a sign of busy streets and businesses. Brightly lit places tend to report more theft and vandalism.83% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 69% of US city residents
These traits tend to go with more or less crime; none of them causes it on its own. Sources: Census job counts and housing figures, OpenStreetMap and Overture business listings, CrimeGrade™ parking estimates, NASA night-light imagery, US Forest Service tree cover, EPA transit data and BestNeighborhood's Walk Grade.
What crime costs Ridgecrest
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Ridgecrest about $1,382 a year per household, 15% more than the US figure of $1,205.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost comes to about $66 million a year, or $2,097 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$3.2 million
$103
Rape
$1.2 million
$40
Robbery
$700,000
$22
Assault
$7.6 million
$243
Burglary
$600,000
$19
Theft
$1.2 million
$38
Vehicle theft
$1.0 million
$33
Arson
$230,000
$7
Vandalism
$1.4 million
$45
Total
$17 million
$550
How CrimeGrade™ works
A CrimeGrade™ shows how much crime an area has compared with the rest of the country, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most. Every neighborhood in the US is graded on the same scale, so a B in Ridgecrest means the same as a B anywhere else.
CrimeGrade™ starts from the crimes people report to police and measures each kind of crime against what it affects: people for assaults, homes for burglaries, parked cars for car thefts.
The rates on this page count crimes for every 1,000 people who live here, the way police departments report them.
Comparisons with US neighborhoods use the Census Bureau's block groups, small areas of about 1,400 residents, and count the people who live in each. The figures count crimes reported to police; many crimes, shoplifting above all, never are. Behind the grades, CrimeGrade™ tested 21,607 factors from 125 data families. For business owners, paid CrimeGrade™ location reports estimate crime at a single address for each type of business.
Where the numbers come from
Crime reports that police departments file with the FBI
State crime records and city crime data, where they are published
Published research on what crime costs victims and communities
These are estimates of reported crime for whole areas, not a record of what happened on any one street. CrimeGrade™ updates them once a year and provides them free and without guarantee. Check local sources before you rely on them for a decision.
Schools in Ridgecrest, CA average a SchoolGrade of D+: 29% of students test proficient, against 31% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Ridgecrest on SchoolGrade
